rick morley | a garden path

a reflection on the second Sunday of Easter

April 4, 2012

by rick

no formula makes you fall to your knees – a reflection on Good Friday

March 30, 2012

by rick

In the history of Christian thought there have been many theories of how we are made at-one with God (atonement). One theory which we find referenced as early as the 500’s AD, called the “Ransom Theory,” or the”Classic Theory” suggests that because we are sinful that we actually belong to Satan. The Ransom theory, building itself on the verse from Paul, “you were bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20) identifies Jesus’ death with his paying a ransom to Satan, and springing us from Hell. Later theologians took exception to this narrative, because it seems to give too much power to Satan. Did an omnipotent God really need to do all of that to defeat Satan?

a real meal – a reflection on Maundy Thursday

March 30, 2012

by rick

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Holy Week

It’s interesting that while the Last Supper was an event that so obviously happened in the evening (it is a supper, after all), most of our commemorations of that event occur in the morning.

On the night before Jesus died, he took bread…after supper he took the cup.

But, the context in which we say those words and celebrate that meal today is usually far closer to breakfast.

Brunch, at best.

awkward – a reflection on Mark 16:1-8

March 29, 2012

by rick

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Gospels / Lectionary / New Testament / Year B

The following is a reflection on Mark 16:1-8, the secondary Gospel lesson for Easter.

Orpheus and Eurydice by Auguste Rodin. MMA. Photo by Rick Morley.

Palm Sunday Year B

March 21, 2012

by rick

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Christology / Gospels / Lectionary / New Testament / Year B

The following is a reflection on the Passion in the Gospel of Mark.

For a version of the Prayers of the People based on the Christ Hymn in Philippians, suited for use on Palm Sunday, click here.

Detail of the Tomb Effigy of Elizabeth Boott Duveneck Frank Duveneck (1848–1919) Date: 1891, cast 1927. Photo by Rick Morley.

The portrayal of the Passion and Crucifixion in the Synoptics differs from the Gospel of John. In the Synoptics the Crucifixion is a moment of agony. Jesus is screaming screams of abandonment while being tortured. Read More

unbidden – a reflection on Hebrews 5:5-10

March 15, 2012

by rick

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Christology / Epistles / Lectionary / New Testament / Old Testament / Pentateuch / Theology / Year B

The following is a reflection on Hebrews 5:5-10, the Epistle Lesson for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, according to the Revised Standard Lectionary. Hebrews 5:1-10 is the Epistle Lesson for Proper 24B.

The High Altar at the Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Times Square, NYC. Photo by Rick Morley.

Abram had been told by God to pick up from his land—the only home he had ever known—and go to a new place.You can’t possibly imagine how big this is unless you’ve ever been among people who are rooted to their land through many generations. This was a big ask. In return, God said he would bless him and make him the father of many nations.

After settling by the Oaks at Mamre he was still childless. So much for “father of nations.” He was in some significant struggles with his nephew, Lot. And, subsequently he found himself in the middle of a grand war.

A war among many kings.

If Abraham’s story stopped there, he would be a laughingstock. A sad laughingstock whose life had been completely turned upside-down by a God who had asked him to move, and who had promised him the world in return. And all he had to show for it was war, strife, and barrenness.

He won the war. And as the kings were settling the tab in comes a new figure. With a name that hadn’t been referenced before, and in the narrative of the Torah wouldn’t be referenced again. A figure that appears and then vanishes again with hardly a comment.

lifted high – a reflection on John 3:14-21

March 7, 2012

by rick

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Exodus / Gospels / Lectionary / New Testament / Old Testament / Pentateuch / Year B

The following is a reflection on John 3:14-21, the Gospel lesson for the Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year B, according to the Revised Common Lectionary.

The Romanesque crucifix hanging in the Fuentiduena Chapel in The Cloisters, NYC. Photo by Rick Morley.

The scene of the brazen serpent (in Numbers 21:4-9) immediately makes me recall the serpent in the Garden of Eden. That the Israelites were punished for their thanklessness with deadly biting serpents, and then forced to look upon the image of another serpent to find a cure, makes me think that God was trying to get the Israelites to remember what had transpired in Eden. However, scholarship and archaeology tells us that serpent images were used in ancient Israel, during the time of the unified monarchy, as a symbol of fertility, and that similar images were used in ancient Egypt as a talisman to repel living snakes. (See: Joines, Karen Randolph. “Bronze Serpent In The Israelite Cult.” Journal Of Biblical Literature 87.3 (1968): 245-256.)

That the Israelites had recently evacuated Egypt, what we may have here is a recollection of Egyptian practice. They were going to ward off the snakes in the same way as their captor Egyptians had done.

If one were going to preach on the brazen serpent, I think this would be a decent place to start—or at least have in the back of one’s mind.

However, when this scene is referenced in the third chapter of the Gospel of John, I don’t think this that this is what Jesus had in mind at all. It has nothing to do with fertility, Egyptian practice, or even the history of the Exodus. It seems that the brazen serpent is used here to speak about Jesus’ crucifixion in two ways: Read More

where God dwells – a reflection on John 2:13-22

February 27, 2012

by rick

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Gospels / Lectionary / New Testament / Temple

The following is a reflection on John 2:13-22. the Gospel lesson for the Third Sunday in Lent, Year B, according to the Revised Common Lectionary.

St. Guilhem Cloister, at The Cloisers, NYC. Photo by Rick Morley.

But he was speaking of the temple of his body.

In my imagination, it went something like this: It was a stunningly beautiful morning. You know that kind of morning? When the sun just seems to shine brighter, and the sky is so brilliant blue that it makes you stop and stare? When the breeze is slight and cool and the sun is warm on your skin? When the mountains, and the sea, and the trees, and homes, and flowers just all seem to sing?

When everything just fits together, and you’ve slowed down just enough to catch it?

I imagine it was one of those mornings when King Solomon walked out of his cedar palace, and onto a sweeping veranda and looked out upon his kingdom shining in the brilliant sun. The birds were singing, the scent of jasmine hung in the air, and somehow the cares of governing seemed a little lighter.

And standing there in his palace, a realization dawned on him. And it stung.

He had a grand house. And God was in a tent. Read More

take up your what? – a reflection on Mark 8:31-38

February 15, 2012

by rick

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Gospels / Lectionary / New Testament / Year B

The following is a reflection on Mark 8:31-38, the Gospel lesson for the Second Sunday in Lent, Year B, according to the Revised Common Lectionary.

The shadow cast from the High Cross at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC. Photo by Rick Morley.

If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

For us, living after the crucifixion and resurrection, this text makes sense. We probably don’t even flinch.

For those of us who are, perhaps, already thinking about our Good Friday liturgies and sermons, this text has clear meaning. And, I think it had the same clear meaning for Mark’s first audience: Just as Jesus bore his cross, the trajectory of our lives of faith must be similar.

We have our cross to bear too. And when we bear that cross, we become more and more like the One who bore the cross on Calvary. And, that is the point of a life of faith.

However, just because we get it—and because Mark’s audience around 70 AD got it—does that mean that Jesus’ first listeners got it? Read More

baptismal urgency – a reflection on Mark 1:9-15

February 7, 2012

by rick